Ksat (2014) explained,
SAN ANTONIO -
A woman escaping domestic violence in Houston complained that she and her three children were subjected to bed bugs at a San Antonio shelter and then asked to leave.
The woman, who KSAT 12 is not identifying due to her situation, displayed bite marks up and down her arm and on her neck. Her 13-year-old daughter has a collection of bites as well and so does her 15-year-old son.
The bites, they said, came from bed bugs at the San Antonio Battered Women's and Children's shelter.
"No one's going to live with bed bugs,” the daughter said. “It's nasty. I can't even go to school because I'm sick and I have these bites all over me."
Her mother said the family escaped an abusive home life and ended up fighting bed bugs.
"It's not fair,” the mother said. “Just because you're homeless doesn't mean that you have to live like that. Just because you're in a situation, children shouldn't have to live like that."
She said the shelter kicked her out after she complained and called Metro Health.
"They had the police come out and escort me off of the campus and they said they were done with me," the mother said.
A report from Metro Health shows inspectors from the agency came out and that the shelter provided a pest control receipt from a recent treatment that said two rooms had already been sprayed.
Metro Health was unable to inspect the rooms because they were sealed by the pest control company.
The woman said she and her kids then spent one night in their car, which is packed with everything from ramen noodles to lots of medication.
Marta Pelaez, the president and CEO of the shelter, said the stories that are being told are false and that the shelter is safe and livable.
Pelaez said she could not say anything about a particular client because of privacy issues. She did say the shelter does not kick people out for complaining and that there has not been a bed bug epidemic.
The mother stands by her story.
"I had to do what I had to do for my children,” the mother said. “That no one should live under those circumstances."
The family is now at another shelter, again hoping to restart their lives.
The woman said she wants to prevent this from happening to other people who go to that shelter.
http://www.ksat.com/news/battered-woman-complains-of-shelter-bed-bugs/25217618
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